The Ruler of Antar
by Flatlander Jr
Summary: Over fifty Earth years ago, Zan was betrayed by his sister and lost his planet to the Skins. His only hope is that his clone will avenge his death. Here is what could have taken place in the last few hours of his life.


THE RULER OF ANTAR

BY DANIELLE FRANCES DUCREST

Disclaimer: Roswell belongs to Melinda Metz, Warner Brothers Studios, and UPN. No copyright infringement was intended. This story was written for entertainment and not for profit. 

Spoilers: Pilot, Four Square, The White Room, Destiny, Surprise, Summer of '47, Harvest, Meet the Dupes

Summary: Over fifty Earth years ago, Zan was betrayed by his sister and lost his planet to the Skins. His only hope is that his clone will avenge his death. Here is what could have taken place in the last few hours of his life. 

*****

"This way, your highnesses!" 

King Zan and his sister, Princess Vilandra, ran down the corridor of the palace. Vilandra's husband and Zan's second-in-command, Rath, and two of their men flanked them. All of them were armed with blast weapons and with their own powers. 

Zan had failed to keep the peace between their race and the Skins. The Skins, led by Kivar, had ambushed the palace on Zan's planet, Antar, and were taking it over room by room. The Antarian forces were fighting off the planet and on the surface, but most of the palace's guards were already dead. They didn't have much time left. 

They rounded a bend. "Stay here and watch our backs!" Rath commanded one of the soldiers. The soldier obeyed and knelt and peered from around the corner they just rounded, his blast weapon and his palm open and ready to defend them. 

The others kept running down the corridor. At the end of it was the secondary control room. In it, if one had the necessary access, they could control all of the computers in the palace. 

"Open the door, Rath," Zan commanded when they reached it. The second soldier, Zan, and Vilandra covered him while he walked over to the door lock computer pad embedded in the wall. He placed his hand on the pad. A minute later, after the computer had matched his DNA, the door slid open, and they raced inside. The soldier and Rath knelt and took up places on either side of the door. 

Zan ran to one of the consoles. Its base was metal. It slanted inwards, making the round surface smaller than the bottom. The surface was covered by another white pad. Zan placed his hand on the surface and waited. It scanned his finger print and made a beeping sound when it confirmed that his DNA belonged to the only person who could use this console. 

The beeping sound continued. "They'll know we're here," Vilandra said, referring to Kivar and his men. The Skins had control in the central control room. One of the consoles in there would beep also, and they'd know what triggered it. 

"Then we don't have much time," Zan replied. Keeping his hand on the pad, he closed his eyes and concentrated. 

He imagined the circuits and other technology that made up the palace's computer, and suddenly, he was there. His mind zoomed through the power lines, searching for the one that would take him to his destination. 

Everything seemed to be dull in color, except…there. A whole section of the system stood out in bright red. His mind reached out and latched onto it, and the next minute, he had complete access to the launch pad controls. 

A ship sat on the pad, completely powered down and unable to lift off by commands the Skins gave the computers in the central control room. Zan channeled his power through the console his palm touched, and soon afterwards, he overrode the central control room's commands. The ship powered up. 

Zan took his palm off the console, disconnecting himself from the computer. He gave a silent prayer to the higher powers that they would be safe. Inside the ship were two sets of four incubation pods and four people Zan had chosen as their protectors. If they could make it past Kivar's ships, they would survive. 

Zan opened his eyes and turned to the others. "It's done. Our clones and their protectors are heading for Earth. Let's head out."

"Agreed," Rath said. "Our front lines are only a few miles away from here."

"Why aren't they here at the palace?" 

"Kivar's troops are holding them back. We can make it there if we hurry." 

A blast weapon opened fire, followed by a scream that stopped abruptly. They looked through the door and down the corridor to see the first soldier lying in two pieces on the ground. 

Skins appeared around the corner. Rath and the second soldier fired at them and some of them went down while Vilandra and Zan got out of the way. The other Skins got down and fired back. 

One of them hit Rath. The blast severed his arm. Rath cried out and moved out of the doorway. He clenched his teeth and put a hand over his arm, trying to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to it. He couldn't use his powers to heal himself in that state. 

"Rath!" Vilandra cried. She ran up to him. 

Zan ran to the doorway and brought his palm up. He created an impenetrable green shield with his power. It appeared in the air just outside the door. The Skin's blasts hit the shield but couldn't get through. They were powerful, however, and Zan knew he couldn't keep it up for long. 

"Vilandra, come here and add your strength to my shield. Soldier, go and heal Rath." 

"I can't do that, brother," Vilandra said. She sounded calm, very unlike the concerned wife for her husband's safety she'd been only moments before. 

Zan turned to her, confused, only to see Vilandra pointing, palm-first, at the soldier kneeling next to Zan. 

The soldier saw her, too. "No! Your highness, please!" he begged, but it was too late. Power flowed out of Vilandra's palm and slammed into his chest. The soldier fell over, dead. 

Shocked, Zan looked back at Vilandra and found her blast weapon pointed at him. Rath lay against the wall next to her, unconscious. 

He looked at her. "You betrayed us!" 

"Sorry, brother. You're not meant to be the leader of Antar. Kivar is." 

"How could you?" He said, his anger taking over his shock. "We're your family!" 

"Not anymore," Vilandra answered, smiling. 

His shield was getting weak. Zan winced as he tried to keep it up against the onslaught of energy blasts, but he knew he had only a few minutes left before the Skins' blasts managed to get through. He strained to keep it up anyway. 

He told Vilandra, "I won't keep this up much longer. Do you think your new friends will know it's you when they come storming in here?" 

"They'll know," Vilandra said. She reached into the collar of her robe and pulled out a communications device on a chain. Speaking in the Skins' language, she said, "Nicholas, I have them. Tell your men outside the secondary control room to stand down." 

"Very good, my sweet. Nicholas out," the Skins' second-in-command answered through the device. 

"So Nicholas is your new mate," Zan surmised. "He's also a second-in-command, just like Rath. Are you really so power hungry that you ignore your conscience?" 

Vilandra waved her head, and pain shot through his head. The Skins' blast fire ceased and he dropped the shield before falling on his knees to the ground, breathing heavily. The pain still echoed through his brain. 

The Skins ran into the room and surrounded him. Vilandra stood back and let more of them surround Rath. One of them waved their hands. The pain made Rath jerk awake, but when he cried out another of the soldiers kicked him, knocking the wind out of him. "Get up." 

He and Zan both stood up. Zan watched as his brother-in-law painfully got up, clutching his right side where his arm used to be. 

"Hello, Zan, Rath," a new voice said from the doorway. 

Zan watched as Nicholas walked in. He went up to Vilandra and took her hand. "I knew you could do it." 

"Did you doubt me?" Vilandra asked. 

"No, but Kivar did. He'll be pleased when we bring them to him." 

Even through his pain, Rath understood what was happening in front of him. "Vilandra? Why, you-" he took a step forward only to get his guards' weapons shoved into his stomach. 

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," Nicholas advised. "Kivar prefers it if we bring you to him alive, but if you do anything, I will kill you." 

"Don't, Rath," Zan ordered. 

Rath looked at him. He was angry at Vilandra, but he didn't act out on it. 

Nicholas addressed his soldiers, "Let's go." 

The soldiers forced Zan and Rath to walk down the corridors to the central control room. Zan glanced at Rath. He was still bleeding, but the only way they could heal him is if they had his arm. Nicholas and Vilandra left the limb behind them. Zan knew that even if Kivar didn't kill his brother-in-law, Rath would die from bloodloss anyway. Right now, Rath was focusing all of his strength on walking. 

Several minutes later, they reached the central control room. The double doors opened when they approached them and they walked in. 

Skins worked at consoles near and on the wall of the circular room. Kivar stood in the cleared space in the middle, where holographic projections were viewed. Right now, known of them filled the space. 

Nicholas and Vilandra walked up to him and bowed. "We have captured them, your highness." 

Kivar looked beyond them at Zan and Rath and smiled. "I'm pleased. Half of you, take her and dispose of her," he told their guards. He motioned to a figure on the ground. 

Five of them moved toward the figure that Kivar indicated, while the other guards kept their weapons trained on Zan's and Rath's backs. The figure lay limp on the ground, and as they picked her up, Zan recognized her. 

It was Ava, his Queen. His wife. 

Kivar killed her. 

Zan clenched his eyes shut for a minute before opening them again. He had to stay focused. He pushed the feelings of grief and anger down and looked at his adversary. 

"Hello, your highness," Kivar said, mocking him in the Skins' language. "How does it feel knowing you're about to die?" 

Zan smiled. "You can't get rid of us that easily, Kivar," he promised. He didn't bother speaking in the Skins' language, like they'd done during peace talks. Diplomacy no longer applied. "Our clones are already on their way to Earth. They will return one day and re-take the throne." 

"My ships are already in pursuit of it." Kivar said. "They've already hit the landing clamps and heat shield. Even if it makes it to Earth it won't survive the trip through the atmosphere." 

"Your highness," a Skin at a console said. "Escape pods have been launched out of the craft, sir. One of them has a granilith." 

"What?" he turned to another Skin. "What's the location of Antar's granilith?" 

"It's no longer on the surface, your highness." 

He turned on Vilandra, who looked surprised. "You knew about this." 

"No, your highness-" 

"Silence!" Kivar commanded. "You were never trustworthy." 

He held up his palm. Energy flowed out of it and hit her. She cried out as she fell to the floor. 

"Vilandra!" Nicholas cried out, but there was nothing he could do. Vilandra was already dead. He could only stare down, in shock, at her prone form. 

"She was a traitor," Kivar said behind him. "You wouldn't mourn for a traitor, would you, Nicholas?" 

Nicholas closed his eyes and fought to school his expression. Zan smirked at the predicament he was in. Nicholas knew he wouldn't stand a chance against Kivar, and he would be considered a traitor if he tried. "No," he said. 

"Good," Kivar said. He looked at Zan and Rath. "Where will the granilith be taken?" Zan and Rath didn't say anything. Kivar waved his hand, and Rath collapsed from the pain that shot through his brain. 

"Tell me," Kivar commanded Zan. He didn't say anything. "Nicholas, kill them." 

Nicholas turned to them and pulled out his weapon. He let his anger at Kivar take control of him as he pointed his weapon at Zan. "I'll see you later, Nicholas," he promised before Nicholas fired. 

The blast hit Zan's stomach and blasted through it. Rath watched the severed parts of his friend and leader fall in a shower of blood to the ground. He looked at Nicholas with hatred in his eyes. "I'll be waiting for you in the afterlife," he promised. Nicholas ignored him and fired. 

"Clean up the mess," Kivar commanded the guards. They dragged the bodies out to the waste disposal unit, where Queen Ava's body waited. Two men trailed after them, waving their hands across the blood and guts that fell on the ground, making it disappear. When the doors closed behind them, no evidence remained of the royal four. 

"Choose a hundred of our people," Kivar commanded Nicholas. "When I give you the word, take them with you to Earth. Do not return until the clones are killed and you have the granilith in your possession. Am I clear, Nicholas?" 

Nicholas closed his eyes, keeping down another wave of anger. Not only did his leader kill the woman he loved, but now he was being sent to Earth on a quest he may not return from. Something occurred to him, and he found his anger diminishing a little. If he found the clones, he could have his Vilandra back. "Yes, your highness." 

He left the control room to gather up the Skins he would take with him. As soon as he was gone, Kivar turned to a woman at one of the consoles. "Patch me through to all of the Antarian ships and ground forces." 

"Yes, your highness." A few minutes later, she announced that the channel was open. 

"Antarian forces," he began, speaking in the Antarians' tongue. "Your Royal Four are dead. Surrender and we will let you live. If you refuse to surrender, we will show no mercy."

Over the next few days, the leaderless Antarians tried to continue the fight for their planet, but they ran out of resources quickly. Running out of alternatives, they surrendered. 

As the new leader of Antar, Kivar set up new laws. All Antarians must learn the Skins' language and speak it at all times or be punished with death. No one did anything without Kivar's say so. The Antarians were enslaved and became the Skins' hard laborers. If they didn't do what was expected of them, they were killed. 

A few weeks later, Nicholas and his men and women were sent to Earth. Nicholas looked forward to being with his lover again. Then, when he found the granilith, he would return to Antar and find a way to kill Kivar without any clues leading to him. 

Kivar knew that if Nicholas returned to Antar, he would try to have his revenge. So he secretly planted a bomb on Nicholas' ship. As soon as they were all off of the ship, it would explode, making the granilith the only device they could use to get back. 

When they returned, Kivar would frame Nicholas and have him executed. If Nicholas refused to kill all of the clones, that wouldn't be a problem; they were the enemy and Kivar wouldn't have to come up with a clever plan to kill them. 

Meanwhile, the people of Antar hated their new King. They met in secret and talked longingly about the day when the Royal Four would reclaim the throne. None of them knew about Vilandra's betrayal. It didn't matter. Even if she tried to betray them again, Kivar wouldn't trust her. 

On Earth, Zan's ship crashed in the desert outside of Roswell, New Mexico, USA. The escape pods landed not that far away. Two of the protectors didn't survive. The two that did couldn't get the pods safely hidden away before the United States Air Force arrived. The pods were taken to Hanger 20. A few days later, the protectors managed to break in and get them out. They successfully hid the pods in a cave outside of Roswell and in the sewers of New York City. The pods had, unfortunately, been damaged in the crash and by the scientists at Hanger 20. It would take decades instead of a few years to fully develop the alien-human hybrids lying inside. 

After they left the pods, the two protectors were captured. Experiments were performed on them. One of them managed to escape. During the years after that, he used his power to shape-shift into human beings and kill anyone that stood in his way. 

He would protect the Royal Four's clones from the government and the Skins. One day, when they broke out of the incubation pods, he would teach them how to use the granilith to get home, and they would return to Antar. 

And they would defeat Kivar. 

THE END


End file.
